Columns

Editor’s note: This is the presentation speech by Janice Dabney honoring Melissa Prince, vice president of corporate communications for INSP Television Network, as the Lancaster chamber’s Ambassador of the Year.

It is with great pleasure that I present to you the Lancaster County chamber’s Ambassador of the Year.

“One of the first signs that a ‘society’ is beginning to decline, is the inability of its citizens to cope.” (Anonymous)
Can anyone see a parallel to that quote in what is happening throughout our nation and the world today?
As political correctness becomes the norm, we see more and more people becoming upset and offended by mere words. To me that is a perfect example of our society losing its ability to cope.

It’s the call that every aspirant in the political hinterland dreams of: “Will you give our party’s response to the president’s State of the Union Address?”
The answer is always “yes” – and then the drama begins. The stakes are incredibly high. Many fail, some miserably (see Gov. Bobby Jindal in 2009) but the opportunity is exposure to more than 30 million people as the alternative voice to the president of the United States.

Welcome to Van Wyck! What an emotionally packed meeting Jan. 12 at the community center to hear from the Indian Land representatives who want to incorporate and include the Van Wyck community. There were a lot of opinions expressed, but I believe the main take away is this:
Van Wyck residents do not want to be included in the IL incorporation.

Editor’s note: This is last week’s presentation speech by Steve Sherrill honoring Gus Deligiannidis, owner of Gus’s Family Restaurant and Gus’s Family Pizza, as the Lancaster chamber’s Small Business of the Year. Coming Sunday: Jackie Brown.

Editor’s note: This is the presentation speech by Rick Jiran, Duke Energy’s director of government and community relations, from Thursday night’s annual Lancaster chamber annual awards banquet. We will publish the speeches honoring each of this year’s five major honorees. Coming Wednesday: Don Gardner.

“The best way to find yourself,” Mahatma Gandhi said, “is to lose yourself in the service of others.”

Editor’s note: The S.C. Democratic Party picked Rep. Mandy Powers Norrell to deliver the party’s televised response to Gov. Nikki Haley’s State of the State Address Jan. 20. Here are excerpts of Norrell’s speech:

I am Mandy Powers Norrell, and I represent the southern half of Lancaster County in the S.C. House of Representatives.
Like Gov. Haley, I was also born and raised in rural South Carolina, and educated in our public schools. But while we have similar backgrounds, we see things from different perspectives.